Stoner flies in second Le Mans practice
Casey Stoner continued to establish his authority in practice for the French Grand Prix after finishing on top in the second session on Friday
The Australian Honda rider, who in the morning session had already broken the Le Mans circuit record, shattered the benchmark time once again by becoming the first man to lap in the 1m33s.
Stoner's lap of 1m33.782 was nearly four tenths quicker than his morning's best and over 0.400 seconds faster than Marco Simoncelli, second fastest.
The Gresini rider, using the same equipment as the works Honda men, continued to show promising form by outpacing Spanish Grand Prix winner and Stoner's team-mate Dani Pedrosa, the Spaniard having to settle for third position.
Pedrosa was the only frontrunner who did not improve on his morning time.
Nicky Hayden made significant progress compared to the opening session of the weekend, the American finishing as fourth quickest and also the top Ducati rider.
Jorge Lorenzo finished again in fifth position, although the Yamaha rider managed to reduce the gap to Stoner to eight tenths.
Hayden's team-mate Valentino Rossi had another low-key session, the Italian still over a second off the pace down in ninth position.
Pos Rider Team Time Laps 1. Casey Stoner Repsol Honda Team 1m33.782 20 2. Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m34.186 + 0.404 21 3. Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1m34.478 + 0.696 23 4. Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 1m34.652 + 0.870 21 5. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Factory Racing 1m34.659 + 0.877 21 6. Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 1m34.705 + 0.923 21 7. Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1m34.939 + 1.157 21 8. Hiroshi Aoyama San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m34.959 + 1.177 21 9. Valentino Rossi Ducati Team 1m34.966 + 1.184 21 10. Ben Spies Yamaha Factory Racing 1m34.976 + 1.194 25 11. Randy De Puniet Pramac Racing Team 1m34.998 + 1.216 21 12. Cal Crutchlow Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1m35.158 + 1.376 20 13. Loris Capirossi Pramac Racing Team 1m35.383 + 1.601 23 14. Hector Barbera Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 1m35.902 + 2.120 19 15. Alvaro Bautista Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m35.992 + 2.210 21 16. Toni Elias LCR Honda MotoGP 1m36.304 + 2.522 21 17. Karel Abraham Cardion AB Motoracing 1m36.327 + 2.545 20
Share Or Save This Story
Alpine becomes Pramac's main partner in MotoGP
Liberty Media's $4bn MotoGP deal facing EU probe
The story of the 2011 Italian Grand Prix
Vote: Autosport Best of the Month for June 2026
Why similar Williams and Aston Martin failures are oddly reassuring
McLaren still to investigate why it's losing to Mercedes on the straights, despite same PU
Explained: The factors behind WRC’s big 2027 transition and the hurdles it still faces
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments